5,700 eviction notices issued in second quarter of 2023 after ban lifted 

New figures from the Residential Tenancies Board suggest there was a surge in landlords saying they intended to sell their property.

There were 5,735 eviction notices issued to tenants in the second quarter of this year after the no-fault eviction ban was lifted, new figures show.

It is just under 1,000 more than had been issued in the first three months of the year.

New figures from the Residential Tenancies Board suggest there was a surge in landlords saying they intended to sell their property.

In Q2, 3,633 landlords said they were issuing an eviction notice because they were selling up. This is up from 2,631 in Q1 and 2,513 in the last three months of 2022.

There was a reduction in the number of eviction notices issued for breach of tenant obligations (down from 885 to 766), and a rise in the landlord citing a family member moving in as reason for the notice (up from 861 to 923).

Dublin had the highest number of eviction notices issued between the start of April and the end of June, at 2,298. This was followed by Cork at 720 and Galway at 321.

The figures represent a significant rise in eviction notices issued to tenants. In the year to end of June 2023, there were 19,558 notices to quit issued to tenants in Ireland.

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Under legislation enacted in July 2022, landlords are required to send notices of termination to the Residential Tenancies Board on the same day the notice is served to the tenant. An eviction notice is invalid if this requirement is not met.

Charities and advocates had warned that the no-fault eviction ban should remain in place, but it was lifted by the Government at the end of March. Since then, homelessness numbers have continued to rise with a record 12,600 people in emergency accommodation at the end of June.

Sinn Féin TD and the party's housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin, said  the increase in eviction notices was not surprising.

"Unfortunately, none of this is a surprise. Once the ban on no-fault evictions ended, we expected to see an increase in notices to quit," Mr Ó Broin said.

He said that it was clear that landlords selling their properties were a key driver of the rising notices to quit.

Mr Ó Broin added that it was "logical" to assume that while not all people evicted will become homeless, there is a link between evictions and the record level of homelessness across the state.

While he called for the reintroduction of the no-fault eviction ban, Mr Ó Broin admitted that it alone was not enough and that there needed to be further investment in cost-rental and social housing.